Carnival Cruise Line very well could be sailing to Cuba starting next year. According to the company’s CEO and president, Arnold Donald, there’s quite a bit of demand for sailings to Cuba. The actual details are still pretty limited, but here’s what we know so far.
Sail Dates
Carnival is currently in talks with the Cuban government about bringing their cruise ships to Cuba. So far there isn’t anything set in stone as to how long this could take, but the Carnival Corporation is expecting it to occur around May. In order for this to happen, the country would have to approve this and strict guidelines would have to be followed.
Ships
Sailings to Cuba are expected to include a 7 night itinerary on the Adonia, which is a 710- passenger ship. Passengers will leave Miami and dock somewhere in Cuba. Outside cabins will start at $2,990. This excludes port charges and other miscellaneous charges.
Making This A Reality
In order to make this happen, passengers would need to meet certain humanitarian, cultural or social criteria in order to comply with U.S. governmental regulations. Taking a cruise to Cuba could easily fall into these categories as travelers are bound to study the art and culture while there. Another possibility is to have programs where passengers partake in some humanitarian excursion while in the country.
What This Means For Passengers
This won’t be the typical cruise. There most likely won’t be amenities like spas or casinos onboard. In their place there will be educational activities like language or immersion classes. While in Cuba, passengers might have to stick to an itinerary that is fairly strict and they won’t be able to gage in normal recreational activities like surfing lessons or walking tours. Passengers may even have to sign a document that states that they will not partake in any traditional tourist activities and will instead only engage in educational or cultural endeavors.
After reading this you may wonder why anyone would want to go on this type of cruise with so many limitations. Well, for the most part, travel to Cuba has been seriously restricted for many years. A cruise to the country may allow passengers to see this “forbidden” land, even if it means that they are limited to what they can engage in. For some, the limited things they can do in this country may be well worth it since it’s something that their parents or even grandparents could only dreamed of.
